In what is seen as an escalation of its dispute with the Department of Health, a UK-based medical organisation is now insisting the State cover claims against certain general surgeons which date back several years.
The Medical Defence Union (MDU) wrote last week to up to 10 obstetricians in both public and private practice who believed they were insured by it, informing them it was refusing to cover claims made against them for alleged past negligence.
It has now also asked the State Claims Agency, which began covering hospital consultants for medical negligence in February this year, to cover claims against two general surgeons for negligence alleged to have occurred prior to 2002.
It says it understands the State Claims Agency is liable to cover claims against agencies or State authorities, including consultants, which arise from events which occurred before July 1st, 2002, but which had not been reported to insurers before that date.
The move has been condemned by both the Department of Health and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA).
The secretary general of the IHCA, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, accused the MDU of trying to "off-load" any claim it could on the State.
"As far as we are concerned it's clear-cut that only cases after February 1st, 2004, are covered under enterprise liability and anything up to that is covered by the MDU," he said.
"It's a further outrage in the performance of the MDU where they continue to throw their members to the wolves and use them as pawns in their negotiations with the Department," he added.
The IHCA and the Irish Medical Organisation will meet the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, tomorrow to discuss the latest developments.
A Department spokeswoman said it was "very surprised" by the latest development. "Once again we call on the MDU to reverse its decision," she said.
The MDU said last night its understanding on what the State Claims Agency covered came from a document on the new insurance scheme for consultants published earlier in the year by the Department of Health.
The organisation claims it does not have funds to cover all its historic liabilities due to the rising cost of claims and because it is no longer receiving subscriptions from consultants since the State began covering them. It has been in talks with the Department of Health for some time in an attempt to reach agreement on sharing the burden of these historic claims, which in the case of obstetricians could amount to €400 million.
Meanwhile, consultants at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, one of the State's busiest private maternity hospitals, have warned they may have to give up their practice unless the row over insurance cover is resolved between the Department and the MDU. They are also to meet Mr Martin tomorrow.
The MDU covered three out of the four consultants at the hospital, which delivers 3,000 babies a year. Consultant obstetrician Dr David Corr said yesterday his colleagues were extremely upset at the news that they had lost cover for historic liabilities.
"We can't work in this situation. It is intolerable. People are feeling very vulnerable. Obstetrics claims can be made for up to 21 years. So you just don't know what is going to happen."